Israel kept up heavy bombing of Gaza on Dec 18 amid accusations from a human rights group that it is deliberately starving Palestinians in its campaign that was sparked by the Oct 7 Hamas attack.
Fighting raged on in the third month of the bloodiest-ever Gaza war, with the Hamas-run health ministry reporting another 110 people killed in strikes on Jabalia, outside Gaza City, since Dec 17.
The UN Security Council in New York was set to vote later in the day on another call for a ceasefire in the besieged territory, after previous bids were vetoed by Israel's key ally, the United States.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin was expected back in Israel on Dec 18 as part of a Middle East tour aimed at stopping the conflict from spreading further.
The war broke out when Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Oct 7, killing around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, and abducting 250.
Gaza's health ministry says Israel's military response has killed more than 18,800 people, mostly women and children, while reducing vast areas to rubble.
International alarm has mounted over the dire plight of 2.4 million Gazans now enduring bombardment, food and water shortages, mass displacement and plummeting winter temperatures.
Esta historia es de la edición December 19, 2023 de The Straits Times.
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Esta historia es de la edición December 19, 2023 de The Straits Times.
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